Porta Nigra

£35.00

The game Porta Nigra (which translates as “black gate”) is set in that place and time with the players taking on the roles of Roman architects working on the city gate of Porta Nigra. Each player commands a master builder, who moves around a circular track on the game board, enabling you to buy or build only where this master builder is located. Moving the master builder to farther locations along the track is expensive, so players must plan their movements and builds carefully. The number and type of actions that may be performed on your turn comes from cards in your personal draw deck.

OG recommends because: This is a beautiful and deep game, with very immersive gameplay. Plus it works well as a 2 player game.

In Porta Nigra, you supervise the construction of the magnificent buildings of ancient Augusta Treverorum. On your turn, you play one action card from your hand of 2 cards to determine which actions you may carry out. You must collect bricks and place them according to their colour on the 4 construction sites of the game board. Timing is important, as to collect the right bricks you must move your master builder from quarter to quarter of the city, at a cost of 1 coin per quarter border crossed. With the right timing, you can also collect a variety of building cards as rewards for advancing some important building sections.

At the end of your turn, you draw 1 action card from your action card deck. Once every player’s action card deck is empty, the round ends and you receive a mix of coins and victory points for every brick you have built. After 2 rounds (or 3 in a 2-player game), the game ends and you receive victory points mainly for majorities in the construction sites and for the sets of building cards you have collected. The player with the most victory points is considered to be the greatest Roman architect north of the Alps and wins the game